Web site defacement refers to an attack that 1) alters the content of your website with potentially offensive or erroneous graphics and text or, even more serious, 2) places imperceptible code on your site which is activated when a user access it, often triggering a download of malicious code onto the user’s hard drive which may subsequently be controlled by a hacker remotely. Website defacement is a problem that's on the rise, but most businesses and hosting firms do not manage this critical threat.

Protection against malicious or inadvertent website changes

An alteration to a website could be the first indication that a pharming
attack is underway. While pharmers often redirect users to lookalike “spoofed” sites, another type of pharming attack makes a subtle change to a legitimate site in order to harvest confidential data or insert malicious code. Catbird’s Defacement Monitor protects a company’s website by establishing “baseline content”–approved content for the web site–and comparing it to the live site every 2 minutes, every day. If a mismatch occurs, Catbird’s network of agents
will immediately detect this and send an alert, so the problem can be addressed before customers are at risk.

The Defacement Monitor will also identify unintentional or unauthorized changes to corporate websites by company employees, helping to maintain control of the official company brand and messaging.

How It Works

With the Defacement Monitor, a business establishes "baseline content" - approved content for the Web site. The Defacement Monitor compares the baseline content to your live site every 2 minutes, every day-and immediately alerts the system administrator if a mismatch occurs. With such rapid notification, the administrator can address the problem before the customers notice. The monitor is also flexible. If you have content that changes continually on your page, you can set a threshold regarding the number of changes from your baseline. When the threshold is exceeded, an alarm is triggered.